Tomorrow is the BIG DAY!!! Please pray!

I stayed in bed this morning continuing to push the snooze button on my alarm. I think silently I was thinking if I didn't get out of bed then the next two days could be avoided. Clearly I know that is not true...but it sure sounded good.

Today started off the crazy week with Matthew's evaluation by a speech therapist, physical therapist, and developmental therapist.
It took about 3 hours to complete. I was prepared that they would say everything is all in my head...You're a bad mom....your expectations of your son are too high....you're crazy!! Thankfully that didn't happen. Thank you God!
These four wonderful professionals saw EVERYTHING I am seeing....and more! My beautiful, intelligent, sweet, funny 2 year old son needs help....and they can provide that help. Huge weight off my shoulders. I felt like I could finally breathe a little. It felt good.

Maybe you might think...Golly, she's weird..wanting her son to "qualify" for therapy. I have had the same thoughts. Why would I want him to be "delayed" in these areas? The truth is...obviously...I don't. I would much rather Matthew be progressing like a normal 2 year old. NO frustration, no stress...just normal 2 year old stuff. Unfortunately, he is not. And I know now, it is not for lack of trying on any of our parts. I needed to know that.

Life in our household is very stressful. VERY STRESSFUL!!! Granted, I know I have it good. Things could be so much worse. I could have unhealthy children or any number of issues. I don't, but I have been there so I do know a little of what that is like..

My issue is more communication. Greg and I have been married just about 10 years...Wonderful years! (mostly :) ) I don't think I have actually had a conversation, a real conversation, with my darling husband in months. It is always met with a 2 year old SCREAMING "Momma, Momma, Momma, Momma!" followed by 20 minutes of trying to figure out what he wants, yelling, and lots of tears. It breaks my heart that we are all so frustrated and can't seem to communicate with our son or eachother. It is even affecting my 6 year old. She is so patient and loves her brother so much, but he wears you down.

I am thankful that none of his issues are behavioral. He is a sweet heart! and dang cute.

Well, I could go on about this all day, but, I will leave it with "Help is on the way!" and a deep sigh of relief.

Tomorrow....well tomorrow is a whole other day. Tomorrow morning we will be taking Matthew to Children's Hospital for three surgeries. Thankfully the surgeon will be performing all 3 surgeries at the same time so we will only have to go through all of this one more time. The surgeries are expected to take around 3 hours. I am going to take my laptop with me and clean out my picture folders. Hopefully that will keep my mind off the time.

I trust God completely with my son. Truthfully, my son is only on loan to me while here on earth. I hope that God thinks that I am a good enough Mom to allow me to continue. :) I am pretty sure he will.

Although these surgeries are not "life threatening" surgeries...they are surgeries all the same. When Matthew was 2 months old and I had to hand him off for his first surgery, my heart broke. He was so tiny and innocent. I wanted so badly to be strong for him...and I was. When he left...I sobbed. It is so hard handing off your precious baby to a stranger knowing what they are going to do.

Matthew has been through so much in his short life. I know others have gone through worse and I am thankful that God has not chosen that kind of life for us at this point. I will write about some of the stuff we have endured since Matthew's birth...literally since the moment of his birth.

For now...I will have peace knowing my God is Faithful and he will sustain me no matter what.

I will post pictures tomorrow or the day after from Matthew's surgeries. Until then, please pray for us. Pray for the surgeon...Dr. Kane...pray for the anesthesiologist...the nurses...and everyone else involved.
Pray that I will be strong in order to keep Matthew calm. Pray that Matthew will do well and that these surgeries will be completely uneventful.

Thank you so much. I covet your prayers and words of encouragement during this time.
GOD IS GOOD! ALL THE TIME!!!


Brandy :)

My 8

My friend Kristin at simpleexpressions.blogspot.com tagged me to complete these lists of "Only 8." So here goes:


8 Things I am Looking Forward to:


1. Going on our first family vacation next winter
2. Seeing my family for my cousins wedding
3. Playing outside this spring/summer with the kids
4. Going to the Living Proof Live Conference with Beth Moore in June
5. Meeting my newest neice and new neice or nephew
6. Family coming to visit
7. Living on less
8. Learning more about my Jesus


8 Things I Did Yesterday:


1. Made coffee (and drank it)
2. Cleaned the house
3. Listened to my daughter read
4. Tickled Matthew over and over
5. Took a relaxing bath
6. Read an entire book during my bath
7. Listened to K-LOVE on line and sang songs to my Jesus
8. Prayed at the bus stop with my six year old


8 Things I Wish I Could Do:


1. Adopt
2. Go on a date with my hubby
3. work on my scrapbook
4. Focus on one thing at a time :)
5. Work on my masters
6. Be more organized
7. Be more present
8. Get out of debt


8 Shows I Enjoy:


1. House
2. C.O.P.S
3. Pens Hockey
4. anything on HGTV
5. Dancing with the Stars
6. Avatar: The Last Airbender (thanks to my daughter)
7. Jeopardy
8. Fox News (I excercise with it on because I get so angry about everything...makes for a great workout)


8 People I Tag:

Ace at ifyouthinkroundisfunny.com

Kelly at robiefam.blogspot.com

Beckie at infarrantlycreative.blogspot.com

Alicia at my2009weightjourney.blogspot.com

Melissa at amomintheburbs.blogspot.com

Kim at kimgayeski.blogspot.com

Claire at countrymouseclaire.blogspot.com

Beth at aninstrument4hisglory.blogspot.com

My latest redo project...Oooohhh What fun!

When we moved to Pittsburgh nearly two years ago we came with six boxes of irreplaceables and a trunk of clothes. We also came with two children and a dog but that should probably go without saying.

We sold EVERYTHING in our house; dishes, furniture, pots and pans, toys, etc. Our dining room table, chairs, and hutch were some of the first things we bought. We found it on Craigslist as a package for a very good deal. The set was brand new, Broyhill, and some of the nicest furniture we have ever owned. When we moved into our new home a year ago, I hated the furniture. We have so much cherry wood in our kitchen/dining room that it all just clashed. The hutch and china cabinet in our living room is fine. It looks beautiful but we have a matching hutch in the dining room along with the dining room table and chairs. It was not a good look. It was too traditional for me in my modern kitchen.
When the weather warmed up a little (emphasis on a little) I decided it was time for a change.

Table and hutch before.

Thank you God for French Bulldog Black :)

One of the coolest parts of this project....

NO SANDING!!!

I may not have done this project if I had to sand it all first. I HATE HATE HATE sanding.

In comes my "savior of sorts"

Zinzer Primer

This is the best stuff ever!!! It is so thick. I had it tinted so I would need fewer coats of the black. This stuff goes on sooooo easily. I was blown away.

I personally think the table looks 100 times better just with a coat of primer.

Don't you?

And yes, I painted it right in my kitchen. When I was finished, I coated it with a water-based polycrylic to make sure I could wipe off the smooshed bananas my son seems to leave behind.

READY FOR THE BIG REVEAL?

Oh my goodness, I LOVE IT!!! I wish you could see the full picture. I have an open kitchen and all of the appliances are black and stainless steel. Painting the furniture pulled the entire room together and really anchored my dining room area. I stand in my kitchen and just stare at my table. It is so pretty.

My husband.......hates it!!

Have you ever seen that Campbells soup commercial where EVERYTHING is white?
That is my husbands dream. He does not like color....At all!!!

Good thing he is not here all day. I figure he can live with it. After all, all of our walls are still the original newly built white.

Lord help me. :)

Well, at least I get a pretty kitchen.

By the way...I was truly inspired to do this by my bloggy friend Beckie over at

Infarrantly Creative
If you have never visited her site, she is AMAZING!!! You will get so many fantastic ideas from her, you will not know what project to tackle first.

Check out what she did to her kitchen...

AWESOME

This sweet boy

I prayed and prayed to have a healthy son...... a momma's boy. Look at how God answered my prayers. He looks so much like his Daddy. The blue eyes and long eyelashes melt my heart as does the way he says my name. When he is hurt, he runs to me for comfort, wraps my arms around him, and sighs with comfort and relief that he is safe in my arms.
This child is always "full steam ahead". There is little quiet time in our house. He is LOUD! ALWAYS!! I love it though, usually. He gets so excited about every little thing. He is growing so fast. My baby boy is 2. How did that happen?
Matthew loves anything with wheels. He is all boy. Dirt, noise, cars, and tumbling. He is solid! I don't know how I manage to carry him sometimes.
His laugh is completely infectious to everyone around. There is nothing but pure joy on his face when he is laughing. He has one of those deep belly laughs and when he starts, he laughs with his entire body. He is so ticklish, especially on the little fat pockets on his chest next to his armpits. He usually laughs so hard that he can't catch his breath. He also loves to be tickled under his chin and on his neck. He will sit in a shopping cart, give me a look and then tilt his head back to expose the little crook of his neck. He tempts my hands to give him a little tickle, and when I do...he flings his head forward with a huge giggle. Then, it starts again.
He brings such light to my life. With my children, my husband, and my Jesus....my life is fully COMPLETE!!!

Thank you Jesus!

My big girl!

I snapped this shot of Haley yesterday because she was looking sooooo grown up. I love the expression on her face. I cry thinking about how much I love this child and how blessed I am to have two beautiful, healthy children that God has entrusted me with during our time hear on earth. I remember taking her home as a 4 lb. 11 oz baby and being so fearful that I would break her.. It seems like yesterday. Now she is six years old.
She is the funniest person I have ever met. The things that come out of this childs mouth often have me rolling and crying all at the same time. I wish sometimes that I could freeze this moment for just a little while because it goes so fast. She is so beautiful, funny, smart, compassionate, respectful, kind, and gentle. She is an AMAZING big sister. Her baby brother lights up when she enters the room. I love seeing how they interact with eachother. I am so blessed.

Measles, quarantine, and opinions

I am not intending this post to be a bashing towards anyone, instead I hope that it will create a place for discussion. Given that, I would like to tell you a little story about what we are currently going through.

Matthew will be having surgery on April 29th to repair a hernia, fix an undescended testicle, and remove a cyst in his eyebrow. Because of this we had to take him for a pre-op appt. at Children's hospital here in Pittsburgh on March 23rd. Little did we know, on April 3rd we would be notified by Children's hospital that Matthew had been exposed to measles. MEASLES!!!! I figured it was not a big deal until I realized that Matthew did not catch up with his vaccinations until April 2nd. He had been sick for his last round of vaccinations and did not receive the crucial MMR vaccine. Children's hospital told us they were not concerned but had to inform everyone. Okay, no big deal.....

Fast forward to April 6th when I receive a phone call from the county health dept. To make a long story short, measles are highly contagious. The doctor that saw Matthew for his pre-op appt. came down with measles and so the likeliness of Matthew getting it is now increased (really increased). A 30 something year old father and his two preschoolers also came down with measles. I was also informed that this is not considered an outbreak, however; there have only been 6 confirmed cases in the entire United States over the last three years.

Matthew is quarantined in the house through Saturday. This is serious stuff and I am a little ticked off that Matthew was needlesly exposed. The reason these people got measles is because they were never vaccinated. Does anyone know what measles can do??? The following information, including the picture, is from the CDC.

Description
A respiratory disease caused by a virus.The virus normally grows in the cells that line the back of the throat and in the cells that line the lungs.

Symptoms
Rash, high fever, cough, runny nose, and red, watery eyes (lasts about a week).

Complications
Diarrhea, ear infections, pneumonia, encephalitis, seizures, and death
Approximately 20% of reported measles cases experience one or more complications. These complications are more common among children under 5 years of age and adults over 20 years old.
Measles causes ear infections in nearly one out of every 10 children who get it. As many as one out of 20 children with measles gets pneumonia, and about one child in every 1,000 who get measles will develop encephalitis. (This is an inflammation of the brain that can lead to convulsions, and can leave your child deaf or mentally retarded.) For every 1,000 children who get measles, one or two will die from it. Measles can also make a pregnant woman have a miscarriage, give birth prematurely, or have a low-birth-weight baby.
In developing countries, where malnutrition and vitamin A deficiency are prevalent, measles has been known to kill as many as one out of four people. It is the leading cause of blindness among African children. Measles kills almost 1 million children in the world each year.

I understand the fear about autism realated to vaccines but there is NO PROOF that vaccinations, including MMR, are anywhere remotely tied to autism. Instead, not vaccinating your children is bringing these diseases back into our communities and threatening lives. It can be so simply avoided. Measles is the #1 death in children which can be avoided by a simple vaccination. I don't understand. Please explain it to me someone. I would really like to understand with hard facts, not emotions. I am irritated that my child is threatened with this disease because of the choice of others. We were not given the choice and should not have to suffer because of it.

Thankfully, Matthew does not have measles at this time but he is not out of the woods until Saturday. Please keep us in your prayers as well as the many other people around the Pittsburgh area that were also exposed and are locked in their house at this time.

I would love to hear your opinion on this. Please keep your comments respectful to everyone.

More "wise" words from my 6 year old....

Haley - "Mommy, did you know balloons are just like humans?"

Me - "They are? How are they like humans?"

Haley - "When they got old and they lose some of their air they get wrinkly and droopy."

So true, so true.